Theoretical Foundations of Religious Free Thinking in the Fourth Century

The fourth century AH is considered as one of the most prominent periods of Islamic history and civilization in terms of intellectual diversity and committed free thinking. This period can be called the age of free scientific and philosophical councils away from the traditional prejudices and demarcations in religious societies, which, however, differs from some of the intellectual circles of the current age that consider free thinking as opposed to the commitment to religion and revelation. If we know the essence of liberal thinking as humanism and rationalism, we should consider the fourth century AH as one of the most liberal-minded periods in human history, which was associated with human concerns before the renaissance of the West and left the field open to human intellect. Yet it never maintained a discrepancy between open and free thinking about human concerns and religious attachments. Hence, the words of some fourth-century thinkers is noteworthy stating that the humanism of this period was religious humanism, and that its rationalism, as it employed human heritage and the early sciences, also believed in and relied on revelatory teachings. In addition, it did not hesitate to communicate and talk with atheists and apostates. The purpose of this article is to explain the dimensions of the religious free thinking and to show its characteristics and theoretical foundations, the most important of which are humanism and rationalism. This period is known as the era of scientific meetings and circles. This paper seeks to show the relationship between these assemblies and basically the relationship between the parliament-orientation and dialogue-orientation of this period with free thinking.